A couple who met as teenagers are celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary.

Doris and Eric Walker met at an after-school tennis club in their teens.

The nonagenarians, who live in Mount Hermon Rest Home, Brighton Road, Lancing, enjoyed a glass of champagne and a letter from the Queen on their platinum wedding anniversary.

Friends they hadn't seen for years joined them for a party with staff at the home.

But as theirs was one of the longest marriages to be celebrated in the new millennium, finding a suitable anniversary card proved difficult.

The couple married in 1932 at a register office.

It was the height of the Depression so a lavish ceremony was out of the question. They were not even able to afford photographs of their special day.

For a reception, Mr and Mrs Walker eschewed dinner and dancing for a trip to the pictures.

Mrs Walker, 93, said: "It was awful during the Depression. Eric was in a sanatorium with TB for six months after our marriage."

Mr Walker, 95, said: "I don't know why we've lasted so long. It's just one of those things.

"I was attracted to her in the first place because she was very good-looking. I was carried away by how beautiful she was."

Rest home owner and matron Wendy Gray said: "Doris is very protective of Eric. They are still very happy together.

"They like to sit in their room together most of the time and listen to classical music. He has always said she has been a wonderful wife to him."

The couple, who have no children, have lived in Lancing for many years but were originally from London.

Mr Walker used to work as a manager in the government ordering department of the General Electric Company.

During the Second World War Mrs Walker worked at a munitions factory.